


Blood Ties

by Pyreite



Series: DAI x Witcher Crossovers [1]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition, Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Vampire, Crossover, Crossover Pairings, F/M, Hiding, Hybrids, Late Night Conversations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-09
Updated: 2016-12-09
Packaged: 2018-09-07 10:41:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,890
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8797672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pyreite/pseuds/Pyreite
Summary: [AU - Witcher 3 x DAI]Ellana has a late night visit from her grandfather's blood-brother.  She can't escape this time despite her obligations to the Inquisition.  Dettlaff is determined to drag her to Novigrad to reunite with her estranged sire.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Random oneshot, written months ago, and only recently rediscovered.
> 
> Unedited.

Ellana knew he would find her. Sooner or later he always did. It was pointless hiding in the tavern. He could sneak through a window or slither under a door like a snake. She preferred to avoid a massacre.

The Templars were outmatched and outclassed.

A Higher Vampire was far more dangerous than a maleficar.

Even a seasoned Witcher would have found him difficult prey.

Ellana cast another log into the fire. She was grateful to the old Pellar who had lived in the middle of the forest all alone. His hut, long abandoned after his death, was thought to be cursed. The villagers of Blackbough gave it a wide berth. Ellana stayed there, time and again, whenever she ventured into Velen without an escort.

Being the Inquisitor tended to draw attention.

She preferred to stay anonymous when she could.

Ellana gazed into the fire. She watched the log blacken and burn. Tongues of red-flame hissed and spat. She cast another log into the hearth and raised her hands so she could feel the fire's warmth. The night was chilly despite the advent of spring. Ellana knew the cold seeping through the floorboards wasn't from the winter melt.

She exhaled a mouthful of mist. The fire sputtered and died down as if a bucket of water had been cast into the flames. It was close to extinguishing though the ash and embers glowed red-hot. Ellana shivered, teeth near chattering, as she reached for the poker. She paused when five long pale fingers reached into the hearth and stirred the dying embers.

"Maker's balls", she swore. "You'll make me freeze to death".

Ellana scowled at his husky laugh.

He had always found her moodiness amusing.

"It's considered polite to greet your guests".

Ellana elbowed in him the ribs. The buckles of his coat clinked. The prod to his breastbone was a mere lovetap to a vampire. He laughed at her show of flagrant disrespect. It was one of the reasons he liked her so much.

She tended to treat him like an ordinary person.

"I'll give you a polite kick in the arse if you don't stop trying to bring the bloody winter indoors".

"Ellana. I haven't seen you since you were a fledgling".

"Well as you can see", she replied grumpily. "I'm not a child anymore".

Ellana rubbed her arms. She could still feel the icy bite through the layers of her clothing. The soft suede, wool, and cotton was fast cooling. A sure sign of the fire's fading warmth. Ellana refused to acknowledge her guest and hunkered down instead before the cooling hearth. The fire had nearly gone out, the embers were barely smoking, a sure sign that he was annoyed.

"You always were impertinent".

Ellana sighed when a pale hand gripped her shoulder. He was too proud to touch her more intimately without her permission. He would only cross that line if she invited him to do so. Although he loved her some things were sacred to vampires. A potential mate had to be willing.

"It's good to know you haven't gotten senile in your old age", quipped Ellana. "I hear the memory is the first thing to go along with the libido. I know it applies to vampires, so it's a waste of time denying it. My grandfather can't remember the last time he coupled with someone without a heartbeat. Bruxae don't seem to compare with Dalish women".

Ellana felt his nails dig into her shoulder. The thin material of her shirt split along the seam. She would have bruises come morning if he wasn't careful. Ellana grimaced when tiny pinpricks of pain blossomed under her skin. She refused to scream or squirm despite the frightening inhuman strength he had.

" _You will not malign him in my presence_!"

"I just did".

" _Vhenan_!"

Ellana hated that particular elven endearment. Solas had used it all too often. It hurt to hear it spoken by another who loved her just as ardently. Vampires had long memories. Ellana doubted he'd forgotten a single moment of all the time they'd spent together.

" _Don't_ _call me that_!"

"It is what you are to me!"

Ellana groaned, eyes rolling. He wasn't elven, but he was sentimental. She had shared much of her culture with him before she'd found out what he really was. The man wasn't a liar, but he hadn't been forthcoming about his true nature. She'd discovered the truth _after_ he'd butchered a band of Qunari intent on killing her.

The Viddasala had met a grisly end.

Her henchmen had been little more than bloodied stumps.

Solas had escaped the massacre with his life.

"Dettlaff", said Ellana. "You're dangerously close to breaking my bones".

That crushing pressure eased though he refused to let her go. Pale fingers massaged her sore shoulder with tender strokes. It was the closest she'd get to an apology. He wasn't the kind of man to admit his faults. Vampires were as proud as they were stubborn.

"You should not provoke me".

Ellana snorted. "I'll speak of Regis any damn way I please".

"He is bloodkin to us both. He deserves to be respected".

"He lied to my grandmother about what he was until the day she died. I don't care if he says he loved her, Dettlaff. He was irresponsible enough to sire a child on her. My mother was ostracised by vampires and elves alike because of what she was. If Geralt hadn't taken pity on her for killing my father, I don't know what would have happened to me".

Ellana frowned when his hand slid across her shoulder. His pale fingers curled around her throat and jaw. An affectionate stroke of his thumb on her cheek made her uncomfortable. His fingers closed tight on her windpipe and he squeezed. Ellana swallowed her fear and endured the deliberate reminder of his strength. His touch gentled a heartbeat later.

Ellana exhaled a shaky breath.

Dettlaff always preferred action to words.

"Go gently", he warned. "I will not hear you malign him again".

"Fine", she agreed. "I can be civil when needed".

"Good".

Ellana smacked the pale fingers caressing her throat. He withdrew with a husky laugh. He was amused by her defiance. If he wanted to be rough than she wouldn't allow him to touch her again. Higher Vampire looked like men and women, but they were far from human.

Ellana was relieved when the chill subsided. She peered into the hearth and the smoking embers burst into flame. The logs she'd cast into the fire hissed and spat. Sap seeping from the wood caught alight. Ellana watched the orange flames flicker and dance.

She was warmer, but still wary. Dettlaff was more emotional than most vampires. He thought the most basic etiquette sacrosanct. Manners went a long way with him. Ellana was unsurprised when he demanded something simple.

"Greet me properly".

"Dettlaff".

"Lest I remind you", he reminded her. "It is considered polite to greet your guests".

Ellana's lip curled. She wasn't about to let him get the best of her. If he wanted to argue about politesse than she would set him straight. Vampires were arrogant creatures. Sometimes they needed to be reminded that the world didn't revolve around them.

"I polite guest would have knocked on the door of my hut", countered Ellana. "He would have stayed outside until I answered. If that guest had cared a wit for my comfort than he would have waited for me to decide if I wanted him here or not. He would not have offended me by turned into fog and drifting under my doorway uninvited. He also wouldn't be standing inside my hut lecturing me about proper manners when he has none".

Ellana could hear his teeth grinding.

He was irritated by her frankness.

"If I had bothered knocking I think you would have ignored me".

"You're right. I would have".

A tense silence stretched between them for several minutes. Dettlaff wasn't the most patient person in the world. Ellana doubted he would take her snark much longer. He had always been rather spontaneous and fun in her youth. Now he was a shadow from a life she'd spent decades trying to forget.

"Must you always disappoint me?"

Ellana gritted her teeth. He _had_ to dredge up the past. Her lip curled in indignation. It was difficult to rein in her base instincts. Her canine teeth turned into fangs.

Ellana clenched her jaw when the rage awoke. It burned like bile rising in her throat. Her eyes flashed and brightened like twin lanterns. Her skin glowed with an unnatural lustre. She was sickened when her blunt crescent-shaped nails lengthened into sharp white talons.

" _Enough_!" she cried.

Ellana leapt from her chair. The rickety stool toppled over. She whirled on the balls of her feet to face her foe. He seemed taller now than he had in her childhood. He was like an ancient oak tree, gnarled by time, with broad branches and deep spreading roots.

He gazed at her with those familiar sad blue eyes. His hair was still black with threads of grey at his temples. His skin was craggy and wrinkled with age. He was as she remembered him to be though fifty years had come and gone since her childhood. He still wore that same black jacket with a red silk shirt underneath.

Ellana recalled how she'd often played with those myriad buckles as a child.

"Why are you here?"

He regarded her with the solemness of a patient man. He had waited decades for her to grow and change from a child into a woman. She was the youngest Higher Vampire in existence. Her refusal to accept her heritage had always infuriated him. Ellana shifted warily from foot to foot, scythe-like nails clicking, as she eyed him.

Dettlaff was just like her grandfather.

He could not be trusted.

"Greet me properly", insisted Dettlaff. "And then we will talk".

Ellana's lips peeled back from her teeth. She hissed at him like a temperamental cat, fangs bared. She had always hated how easily those vampires older than her exerted their seniority. A vampire grew more powerful with age. Dettlaff was her senior by several centuries.

"Get out of here! Go! _Now_!" snapped Ellana. She thrust her arm out and pointed with one long spindly finger to the door. "Leave me in peace!"

Dettlaff refused.

"I will not. You need me more than you know".

Ellana glared at him. He had always been secure in himself, never questioning what he was or why he existed. It was harder for a half-breed. She was neither truly elven or vampire. She was something in-between.

"I want nothing to do with that life!" spat Ellana. "You know my mother murdered my father in cold blood! She tore him apart, rent him limb from limb, right in front of me! I heard him scream and beg for mercy! She didn't care a wit whilst I watched him die!"

Dettlaff favoured her with a look full of sympathy.

"Hawen tried to take you away from her".

"With good reason!"

Dettlaff shook his head in disapproval.

"Only a fool comes between a mother vampire and her offspring. Your father made the ultimate mistake. Higher Vampires are like wolves, Ellana. We form packs for our own protection. Your mother counted your father as her mate and equal until he tried to steal you away".

Ellana's voice cracked. "She killed him".

"Yes", affirmed Dettlaff. "Because he intended to sell you to the Aen Elle".

Ellana's ire guttered as quickly as it had kindled. She gaped at him in disbelief. She had been ignorant of her father's work with the Aen Elle. He had died in her youth. Her mother had followed him soon after at the hand of a white-haired Witcher.

" _What_?"

"Consider your abilities".

Ellana glanced at her left hand. Her fingers were pale and shiny. The skin almost pearlescent in the firelight. Ellana turned her hand over to reveal her bare palm. The Anchor glowed emerald-bright in the shape of a wolf's head.

Ellana studied the pointed ears, hollow eyes, long snout, and shaggy cheeks. She had borne it since the day Corypheus had descended upon the world. He was long dead after being torn in two by magical rift in the fabric of space and time. The Fade, a realm of spirits and demons, was a dangerous place for mortals and immortals alike.

"Fenedhis lasa", swore Ellana. "I should have killed Solas when first I met him. That manipulative bastard knew I was different from the start. An ordinary person would never have survived the explosion at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. He never asked me outright, but he always had his suspicions".

"The power you have", said Dettlaff. "Is an extraordinary gift".

Ellana closed her fingers into a fist. As her anger eased so did the evidence of her vampiric heritage. The sharp talons on her fingers shrank back into blunt crescents. Her fangs dulled and shortened. She wouldn't be killing anyone tonight.

"It's a curse", she corrected. "You've never been beyond the Veil. You've never walked the paths of the Fade that lie between worlds. You've never contended with lost spirits and angry demons. None of what I can do should be considered a gift, Dettlaff".

"You survived Corypheus".

"Barely", retorted Ellana.

"He is still dead".

Ellana rubbed her forearms. The chill had abated, but she still felt cold inside. She regarded her uninvited guest with a look of suspicion. She knew his presence in Velen wasn't a coincidence. Only one person knew she was hiding out in the old Pellar's hut.

"Geralt told Regis where to find me".

Dettlaff nodded gravely.

"He wants to see you".

"Of course he does", sighed Ellana. "It's why he sent you instead of coming to see me himself. He knew I would never want to speak to him. Maker's breath. He must have sold Geralt one hell of a sob-story to get him to fess up".

"The Witcher is an honourable man".

Ellana snorted. She couldn't help but smile. Geralt of Rivia, the White Wolf, was indeed an honourable man. He had a heart of gold and a conscience to match. He also didn't give a flying fuck about her privacy, despite their years of friendship.

"He's a blabbermouth is what he is", admitted Ellana. "Regis must have lubricated his vocal chords well with that mandrake hooch he likes. Geralt would never have betrayed me otherwise, not that I'll hold this against him. He's always been good me. I can forgive one drunken confession".

"So easily you forgive a Witcher, but not your own blood".

"I don't have to explain myself to you".

"True", said Dettlaff. "But you will have to explain yourself to Regis".

"You wouldn't".

Dettlaff opened his arms. "Greet me properly".

" _You arse_!"

"Do it or I will drag you back to Regis kicking and screaming".

" _Bastard_!"

"Ellana", called Dettlaff. "Accept what has always been yours".

"What about Syanna?"

"She is dead".

Ellana scowled. "Will you kill me too if I betray you?"

"You won't".

Ellana knew he would keep his word. Vampires had few inhibitions. Dettlaff wasn't above bloodying her to get what he wanted. The peace in his pack was priceless. Ellana rolled her eyes and crossed the room.

She paused before Dettlaff and glowered at him.

"It's beneath you to resort to threats".

He returned her scrutiny and repeated the same demand.

"Greet me properly".

"Fine", grumbled Ellana. "Still a stickler for vampire traditions I see".

She stepped into the circle of his arms. She was annoyed when Dettlaff arched a black eyebrow. He gave her an expectant look. He wasn't about to make this any easier for her. Ellana protested loudly.

"You're taller than me!"

The corner of Dettlaff's mouth curled upward. "Use your initiative".

"Andraste's arse! _Fine_!"

Ellana grasped the topmost buckle of his jacket with one hand. She grabbed his shoulder with the other. A hasty bending of her knees and Ellana jumped. Dettlaff laughed when her legs wrapped around his waist and her arms encircled his neck. She pressed her brow to his and he still wasn't satisfied.

They were nose to nose and he complained.

"I believe I asked for a proper greeting".

Ellana growled. "You'd better not bite me!"

"I am a vampire", he told her. "Biting is an integral part of who I am".

" _Arse_!"

"Ellana", groaned Dettlaff. "Will you make me beg?"

She smirked as she dug her knees into the cleft of his hips.

"Maybe I should".

" _Vixen_!"

She opened her mouth to tease him. She gasped when a red tongue slid between her lips. He bit her for her insolence. Ellana moaned as he kissed her slow and tenderly. She couldn't keep her composure when he bit her a second time.

"Ow! _All right_! Enough of that!" she laughed. "I'm not a piece of steak, Dettlaff!"

He smiled. "You will return with me to Novigrad".

"Maker's balls! They burn non-humans there! I have pointed ears, remember?"

"You _will_ come with me".

Ellana took one look at him.

He was dead serious.

"Dettlaff! I can't just leave the Inquisition! I'm the Inquisitor! I have responsibilities!"

She didn't like that stubborn glint in his eyes.

"You seem to be under the impression that you have a choice".


End file.
